THE SALMON 57 



mediately give him line, and particularly bear in mind 

 that the slightest degree of rashness at this crisis will 

 set him at liberty again. No matter how seasoned or 

 strong your tackle may be, no one can ever succeed in 

 turning a salmon when he is first hooked. It is only 

 by giving comparatively gentle tugs, or letting him feel 

 the weight and pressure of the rod and line at short 

 intervals, that you can make him rush about backwards 

 and forwards, so as to exhaust his strength. Many 

 fishers turn excessively nervous after hooking a good- 

 sized fish. We once knew one of the boldest officers of 

 the Indian army, one who had braved the rampart in its 

 most fearful thunder and carnage with the most un- 

 daunted coiurage, who never got hold of a salmon (for 

 he was an enthusiastic brother of the craft) without 

 showing the symptoms of almost excessive trepidation ; 

 and this is by no means a very uncommon occurrence. 

 All experienced anglers know, from their own history, 

 and from what they daily see around them, how very 

 exciting the sport really is when you get fairly engaged 

 in it. 



The most unreserved patience and coolness are, there- 

 fore, indispensable. Many fish will require unremitting 

 care and skill for two or three hours before they will 

 yield ; and few of any size can be landed, as they ought 

 to be, ia less than an hour. When the river the angler 

 is fishing has a broad shelving bed on each side the 

 stream between the water and the banks, and there are 

 no trees nor bushes to hamper and perplex his opera- 

 tions, then his work is comparatively easy and expedi- 

 tious ; but, on the contrary, when the river is narrow in 

 its channel, and fills it completely up, and when timber 

 and brushwood abound, it is always a work of some 

 difficulty and uncertainty to kill a large salmon with 

 the fly ; and if the bottom of the stream be full of roots 

 of trees, large stones and reeds, the case becomes still 

 more desperate and hopeless. 



When the fish bounds repeatedly out of the water, 

 the chances are that he will succeed in breaking his hold, 

 either by the main force of his fall into the stream, or 



